Bilge Pump should be wired directly not behind master switch

[JonChristman]

Ok, I get it now. Well that is another one to add to the list of winter projects.

[captainmaniac]

The switches on my boat do not have an auto position, only off and on, and when the master if off they are completely off. I understand the concern about wanting to have the bilges always on. I am stopping at the marina everyday and checking. I just don't understand why the switches would be wired as such from the factory.

Here is a test for you... First, see if your pumps have float switches attached to them. If they do, turn your batteries switches off, and manually activate the float switch. Depending on the type of float switch you can do that either by just lifting the float, or there may be a 'test' button. If the pump kicks in, you have dual wiring - switched, plus hard-wired. If you do, then any high water situations that occur when you are not around will automatically be dealt with by the float activating the pump.

As the previous owner of your boat did, I tend to manually run the pumps every time I get down because activtion by float switch tends not to get rid of all the water the pump is capable of evacuating - the float switch only turns the pump on if there are several inches of water, and as the water level recedes the float turns the pump off (even though there may still be pumpable water left).

[prowlersfish]

Your pumps may be on auto when in the "off" postion lift the float if you can to check

[JonChristman]

I will deinitely do that when I go out there tomorrow.

While I have your attention, I may as well ask another question about the battery switch. The switch has 4 position, off 1 2 and both. When is it appropriatye to use 1 or 2?

ps...on a side note, I had some confusion as I was told the boat was a 1979 but the title said 1980 like wise when I ran a boat history report is showed 1979 as model year. I looked up elsewhere on here and based on the Hull ID I am going to stick with the 1980 now....

[prowlersfish]

I would switch use 1 to start and run then use 2 to start and run that way you can have a idea of battery cond of both batteries

[rossjo]

Like I said, not "direct", but "direct with a fuse".

Where did you get the idea of them being wired direct? I did not pick that up anywhere......
What I read was not switched by the main DC power switches.......

Who said anything about direct to the battery. Mine are not switchable and the only way to disable the auto function is to disconnect the batteries. Did I miss something?

Gentlemen,

The word DIRECT came from the title of this thread: "Bilge Pump should be wired directly not behind master switch".

It is important that the pumps have fuses in this "direct" connection.

[rossjo]

While I have your attention, I may as well ask another question about the battery switch. The switch has 4 position, off 1 2 and both. When is it appropriatye to use 1 or 2?

Paul is absolutely correct.

I will add - You can use "Both" when both 1 and 2 are weak but have some power left, but neither one can turn the engine over by itself. This will combine the power of the 2 weak batteries and may start the engine in an emergency. It is not recommended to use "Both" in any other situation (now - let the discussion begin).

[ready123]

The word DIRECT came from the title of this thread: "Bilge Pump should be wired directly not behind master switch".
It is important that the pumps have fuses in this "direct" connection.

I guess the real question is your conclusion that direct means with no fuse:!:
The title did not allow any more characters so could not put it there....

I did not think I needed to specifically state that a connection to a power source needed to be fused..... maybe I mistakenly concluded that a non fused connection for a pump would not be considered by anyone..... my bad.
My fridge is connected directly to the house battery, not behind any master switches, need I also state that it is also fused

The whole point of my thread was to highlight that bilge pumps should not have off power switches.... unfortunately it seems that the need for fusing has taken up more of this discussion than the potential hazard of bilge pumps being left switched off

[JonChristman]

Is there a preference to the battery selected or a rotation scheme. The previous owner just replaced both batteries. Apparently old ones had been in there for quite some time

[captainmaniac]

Off - to turn everything off.

1 or 2 - (assuming you have it properly wired to 2 batteries set up in parallel) - you would typically use one battey for starting and the other as a 'house' battery... Leave it on 1 while at the dock and you need power - this isolates things and makes sure only battery #1 is being used and battery #2 is 'disconnected'.

When you want to go for a spin, if the engine won't start on 1, switch it to 2 and you should have a fully charged battery sitting there waiting to start the engine.

Both - set it to BOTH when running to charge both batteries

NOTE : some switch manufacturers recommend against changing switch settings while the engine is running as there is a temporary disconnect of battery power as you flip it... some manufacturers say there is a risk of damaging altenator or voltage regulator when that happens. If you can determine the make/model of your switch see if you can find any specs for it online.

If yours is the type that you shouldn't switch while running, then flip to BOTH before trying to start the engine.

[prowlersfish]

I disagree . I would alt front battery 1 to bat 2 like I said in my other post . other wise you would not know if #2 when bad till you needed it . Best bet would be to have a battery isolator so both batteries would be charged when ruining even though you have only # or 2 turned on.


If you what to have a house battery and a starting battery . then you wire one to the house and one to the engine separate switches and a isolator is a must .

One my boat and the last twin Trojan I had most of the house came of the port engine battery a few things on the starboard .

If you have 2 batteries ( or more) make sure all the bilge pumps are not wired to the same battery .

[JonChristman]

Ok, went for a little cruise tonight with the marina owner, he has servied the boat for a number of years.

The bilges on the boat are wired before the master switch under console, but after the battery switch. They are not on float switches, he recommends adding the float switches or changing the pumps completely to float activated ones. Do you guys reccomend any particular ones?

As for the batteries, he said he would switch back and forth using battery 1 for and leaving battery 2 as reserve, then switching and using 2 and leaving 1 for reserve. The way he said it made me think he meant for seperate trips. He did tell me to keep a charger on them when not using them.

[prowlersfish]

I agree

[rossjo]

Get the best Rules - they'll work fine.

Paul is dead on again ... I agree totally.